Oregon OSHA Heat Illness Policy

Similar to the emergency rules set forth last summer, OR-OSHA has now formally adopted OAR 437-002-0156, Heat Illness Prevention Rules, with an effective date of June 15, 2022.  Your company safety manuals should be updated with either your own policy, or the sample version attached.  Keep in mind these sample policies cannot account for the wide variety of administrative, environmental and site specific conditions.  Therefore, a bit of work on your end will be required for full rule compliance. 

Specifically, you will need to develop written procedures/documentation for the following elements within the sample policy:

# 2 & #3 - how you will provide shade and water

# 4 - how you will acclimate workers to hot environments 

# 5 - document your specific heat illness prevention plan - sample plan at https://osha.oregon.gov/OSHAPubs/pubform/heat-sample-program.pdf

# 6 - provide and document supervisor and employee training 

# 7 - Establish rest/work break schedules based on heat index of 90 & 100 degrees F

NIETC Sample Heat Illness Policy 

Resources to assist you in this endeavor include: 

OR-OSHA Heat Illness Fact Sheet - https://osha.oregon.gov/OSHAPubs/factsheets/fs91.pdf 

OR-OSHA Rest Break Fact Sheet - https://osha.oregon.gov/OSHAPubs/factsheets/fs90.pdf 

Heat Illness symptoms and response guide - good for use in employee training - https://osha.oregon.gov/OSHAPubs/3333.pdf 

Heat Acclimatization Tool Box Talk - https://www.esafetyline.net/IPDDocs/HeatIllnessPrevention/stalk_Acclim.pdf?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=NECA_Monthly_Chapter_Notice_2206&utm_medium=email 

Work/Rest Schedule Tool Box Talk - https://www.esafetyline.net/IPDDocs/HeatIllnessPrevention/stalk_WorkRest.pdf?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=NECA_Monthly_Chapter_Notice_2206&utm_medium=email 

Sun Exposure Tool Box Talk - https://www.esafetyline.net/IPDDocs/HeatIllnessPrevention/stalk_SunExposure.pdf?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=NECA_Monthly_Chapter_Notice_2206&utm_medium=email 

OR-OSHA online training course - https://osha.oregon.gov/edu/courses/Pages/heat-illness-prevention-online-course.aspx 

NIOSH / CDC Heat Stress App - https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress/heatapp.html 

Please note this sample policy is specific to OR-OSHA only.  WA LnI adopted a bit different set of Heat Illness Rules on Wednesday.  Barry Moreland is working on a sample policy to comply with their rules and will get that out to you shortly. 

Lastly, both OR and WA have also adopted Air Quality/Wildfire Smoke rules with effective dates in July.  Barry will be sending compliance resources for these rules soon. 

If you have any questions, or need assistance with training or written documents, please contact Barry Moreland, [email protected] or 503-501-5066.